The lost boy
by Hellsleprechaun
Summary: A ten year old Klaus is wandering in the woods one night and gets lost and something begins to follow him, Mikael and Elijah have to search for him, Mikael is not pleased. WARNING: contains spanking, don't like? Please don't read!


Vampire diaries fic 24

**I just wanted to write something that showed Mikael being a good dad to Klaus, because I imagine he loved him before finding out he wasn't his.**

**Warning: contains spanking, don't like? Please don't read!**

**I do not own the vampire diaries, it belongs to L.J Smith and the CW.**

A ten year old Klaus wandered through the thick, dark forest, his big blue eyes wide and excited.

The forest was at it's best at this time of night, when the sky was black and the only light came from the moon and the stars and the trees were painted with a strange, white light.

He smiled and puffed out a breath, his eyes lit up as he saw it float away from him, with the wind, like smoke.

It was winter now, nearly Christmas, perhaps it would snow, he pondered as he carried on walking. As the boy happily thought of the upcoming celebration, he failed to notice that he was wandering further into the forest than he had ever ventured before, into the deepest, blackest part of the dense woods.

Mikael breathed a sigh of contentment as he stepped out of the freezing air and into his small but warm home, where the fire was blazing and his family were gathered around it. The children seated in front of it and his wife sitting at the old, wooden table nearby.

She stood as soon as she saw him, rushing to him and laying a hand on his cheek, with a beam.

He leaned down and kissed her once on the lips, almost laughing at Rebekah's grimace of disgust.

Esther than pulled away from him and looked around him, at the door expectantly.

"Where is he?" She asked, without much concern.

"Who?" He asked, he then looked around the room and counted the children -only five.

"Niklaus." She answered, her eyes widening, "he's not with you?" Panic began to enter her voice.

"No, I haven't seen him. Not since I left this morning." Anger began to burn in Mikael's gut, he had seen his son that morning, standing on the fringes of the forest, looking for animals of some kind. He had called out to him, telling him not to go too far into the woods, and to be back home before dark, of course Niklaus had disobeyed him, it was what he did best.

He could read the horror in Esther's eyes, she could not lose another child, not after their first, neither could he.

It was no secret that he and his third born did not get along but he could not bear to live to see another of his children die.

He kissed Esther once, "don't fear, my love. I'll go and search for him, he'll be fine, I'm sure of it." He promised her, not all together truthfully.

She gave him a disbelieving look, seeing through his lie, as he should have known she would.

"Elijah, come with me." He ordered his eldest, who obeyed without question, as he sometimes wished Niklaus would do.

Klaus was freezing, earlier he had wondered at seeing his breath in front of him, now he cursed it. His lips were chapped, his eyes were watering from the vicious wind, his hands had turned first red and then purple, his whole body was shaking uncontrollably.

He imagined being at home, curled up by the fire with his brothers and sister, with his mother's comforting presence, he would not even mind if his father was there, at least he would be warm, and safe.

_I will be in so much trouble when I get home, if I get home. _The young boy contemplated miserably.

His mother had often told them stories of children who got lost in the woods and got eaten by bears…or wolves…or monsters. He shuddered at the thought of one beast she had described, it was tall and hairy, with horns protruding from it's skull. It had no eyes, or ears, only a nose and mouth, filled with long pointed teeth.

_Perfect for eating children with…_

He gasped in fright and spun around as he heard a twig snapping behind him.

"Who's there?" He called, achieving almost no volume. "Who's there?" Louder this time, masking his fear.

He stood for a moment, alone in the cold, almost pitch black forest, there was silence.

He turned and hurried onwards, when he thought he head pursuit behind him he began to run clumsily, breathing heavily.

The breath was knocked out of him when he tripped and fell over the gnarled root of an ancient tree.

He lay sprawled on the damp, muddy floor and realised that he was even more lost than he had first thought, if that were possible.

He had assumed that he was simply in a familiar part of the forest that looked different at night, but that was not the case, he was shocked to discover that this part of the woods was completely alien to him.

If he himself did not know where he was, how was anyone else going to find him?

"Klaus!" Elijah shouted, pausing for a long few moments before repeating his shout. The same shout he had been shouting for nearly an hour.

"Niklaus!" Mikael hollered, "this is not amusing, if you can hear us, come out now." His tone was flat and furious.

His son was only ten years old and already he was rebelling against his parents. As he looked to his first son, he considered that it seemed as though all the rebelliousness Elijah should have gotten must have passed down to Niklaus as extra, as though he did not already have enough.

He sighed, his rage was slowly turning to worry, Niklaus was curious and impulsive, something that was likely to one day get him killed, but he was not stupid. He must have known that his parents would notice if he disappeared all day and only returned home after nightfall. If he could have returned home before now, then surely he would have done.

He and Elijah weaved through the tightly packed, wide trees, with only torch light to guide them, searching for the boy.

Klaus was now sitting up, his chin resting on his bony knees, his back against the rough surface of an oak tree, trying hard not to cry.

_What would you're father say if he saw you, weeping like a little girl? Elijah would not be crying like this, nor would Rebekah, or mother. They are brave and clever, they would find a way home._

As he moped grimly he heard a noise, a noise that caused all of the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck to stand on end, a deep growling noise.

Then a sniffing, as the creature picked up his scent.

At first, he froze with terror, but then a primal instinct kicked in, all he knew was that he had to run, even if he stood no chance of escaping.

He leapt to his feet gracelessly and fled, he could barely see the trees and plants in front of him, he had to duck and dive at the last minute on several occasions. Nor could he hear whether or not the animal was following him, he heard nothing over the pounding of his own heart.

He did not look back, to do so would mean slowing down, and it would also mean actually seeing his pursuer, confirming his worst fears, that it was indeed the beast his mother had told him stories of.

He yelped noisily as he fell once again, over a stone this time, and landed on his front, in the wet earth.

He scrambled to a sitting position and turned onto his back. He finally saw the thing that had hunted him, a large grey and black wolf, gazing down at him with hungry, feral blue eyes.

He could not do anything, not even scream. He was too afraid.

The huge animal stalked towards him and took a deep sniff, Klaus expected it to lunge, to plunge it's wicked teeth into him and rip his throat out. Instead it looked at him, with what appeared to be confusion and let out a whine. It started to back away from him, as if he were the threat ,rather than it.

Klaus did not have much time to think about this as an arrow came out of seemingly nowhere and buried itself into the wolf's side, it howled a long howl of agony before dying quickly.

Mikael saw the wolf standing before his son, it was large and it must have been starved to venture this far from it's territory, just to reach the village. He dispatched the creature swiftly and approached his son, with Elijah close behind, almost his shadow.

"F…father." Niklaus greeted him, he endeavoured to smile, but it wobbled, and he flickered his gaze downwards, he refused to cry in front of his father.

"Niklaus." He replied, reaching down and hauling the skinny boy to his feet. He looked him up and down briefly and concluded that he was not hurt beyond a few cuts and bruises.

Elijah watched the two for a moment, he did not want to interrupt his father, when it became clear that Mikael had nothing more to say to Klaus, for the moment, he came forwards. "Are you alright?" he inquired of his younger brother.

Klaus only nodded in reply, very unlike him. Usually, at this point the would be babbling about his latest adventure and telling Elijah that he should have been there.

Elijah knew that his brother must have been truly frightened if he was not going to brag about this to him, he also knew that Klaus must have realised how much trouble he was in with their father.

Mikael did not dare speak to his son, if he did he knew he would snap and do something he would regret once he calmed down.

He pushed his children ahead of him, but made sure to keep them within a safe distance of him, he was not going to lose anybody else tonight.

He breathed deeply, trying to stop himself from raging, it was working only minimally.

He was often surprised and disappointed by Niklaus' impulsiveness and recklessness, that boy never considered the consequences of his actions.

He could have been killed by the wolf! He could have frozen to death. He had disobeyed Mikael and the rule that both he and Esther had set: that he had to be back at home before dark.

Of all of his children Niklaus was the most disobedient, the one who caused the most trouble. Sometimes Mikael felt that he was fighting a losing battle by attempting to keep Niklaus alive.

_You could not lose him though, or any of the others._

He sighed in exasperation at the truth of his own thoughts, no, as much of a disappointment as his each children could be at times, if he lost them…

It did not take as long as Klaus imagined, or hoped, to return home.

Time always seemed to pass so much faster when he did not want it to, namely when he was in trouble.

Mikael opened the door and called in to his mother, Esther ran out of the house and into the yard. She grinned a grin filled with relief and delight as she pulled him into her arms, crushing him to her, kissing his soft blonde hair.

"Oh, Niklaus, thank the spirits, you have returned."

She placed a hand on Elijah's shoulder affectionately, she did not need to give him verbal thanks, he already knew.

Klaus was slightly irritated with the childish part of him that just wanted to cling to his mother because she radiated safety and warmth.

As soon as he stepped inside, something flew at him and hit him hard, wrapping it's arms around him.

"Nik! I thought you'd been eaten by wolves!" Rebekah cried.

He smirked down at her, "those wolves did not stand a chance against me ,little sister."

She freed him from her grip and smiled back, "so they really tried to eat you?" seven year old gasped.

"They almost succeeded." Mikael stated coldly, causing both his son and his daughter to stop smiling, as they were reminded of how much trouble Klaus was in.

"You need to get warm." Esther diagnosed, staring at her trembling son with disapproving eyes, she tugged him after her and sat him down in front of the fire, the smell of the smoke made the back of his throat itch but he did not dare to move, his father was angry enough with him as it was. He did not need to irritate his mother too.

He only sat by the fire for ten or so minutes, long enough for the shaking to stop and for him to feel less like he had been carved from ice.

"It is late." Mikael commented, looking pointedly at his eldest son and his daughter, the only two other than Niklaus who were still awake.

"I'll come and say goodnight to you." Esther announced, guiding Elijah and Rebekah before her.

"Niklaus, stay here with me." Mikael commanded, he did not raise his voice, he did not have to.

Klaus shot his mother a beseeching look, making his eyes as wide and innocent as possible, the second not being an easy feat.

"A good try, Niklaus, but no." Esther said firmly.

Esther headed towards her children's bedroom, where Henrich and the others were already sleeping soundly.

Mikael sat down on the wooden chair in the corner and glared at his child expectantly.

Klaus felt a sick feeling gnawing in his stomach, he calculated his chances of escaping back to the forest, they were not good.

"Father, please…" He begged, although he knew better than to expect any mercy from Mikael.

Mikael raised an eyebrow and Klaus pouted before shuffling slowly over to his father, who rolled his eyes at his sons antics.

Klaus stood before him, fighting tears for the third time in one evening.

Mikael grasped his arm tightly and positioned him over his lap, before raising his tunic and bringing down his trousers.

He began to spank his son, with hard stinging swats, then started to lecture.

"Both your mother and I have told you that you are to return home before it gets dark unless you are with me, her or Ayanna. Did you forget?"

"No." The boy chocked out pausing in biting his lip for a second to answer. His bottom was beginning to really sting.

"So you deliberately disobeyed us?"

"Yes. Ow! Father, stop!" He groaned.

Mikael gave one swat harder than the others, causing his son to cry out. "Do not tell me what to do, boy."

"What about this morning? When I told you not to wander too far into the forest?"

"I…I was not thinking, I did not realise how far I had gone." Klaus insisted fervently.

"Until you were lost!" Mikael barked harshly.

Klaus flinched, not just from the smacks he was receiving, but from his father's words, he hated to disappoint him, yet he always managed.

"I'm sorry!" He sobbed, flushing at crying in front of Mikael.

"You should be! You had your mother, and everybody else worried about you, Elijah and I had to search for you. You could have been injured, or worse dead. How do you think your mother would have felt about that?" Mikael asked rhetorically.

The boy felt an enormous wave of guilt. He and Rebekah had listened in on their parents conversations, long after they should have been in bed, on many occasions. He knew about the other child, the one before Elijah, that not even he remembered.

He was aware of how the death of their first child had devastated Esther and Mikael. He felt disgusted with himself at the realisation that he could have made his parents suffer through that again.

Klaus wept as Mikael continued to land painful swats to his backside. "Please, stop father!"

With six children, his father had learned to ignore that small part of him that told him to stop instantly and end his child's punishment.

He gave Niklaus twenty more hard smacks before stopping and allowing him to cry for a few minutes. He then pulled up the boy's trousers, causing him to emit a whine and turned him over so he was seated on his lap.

This was an unusual occurrence, he usually only allowed Rebekah or Henrich to sit on his knee, but Klaus was still small and light enough that it was no trouble. He was also feeling a strange urge to hold his son, to keep him close by for a little while, it was almost impossible to believe that he and Esther had almost lost him.

The child was unsure for a few seconds, Mikael was not a cuddly or even affectionate man, unless towards his wife. He then hesitantly rested his head on his father's shoulder, he was very surprised when Mikael began to stroke his hair gently.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, unsure of the reply he would receive, whether or not the reminder would reignite his father's anger.

"I know, you need to be more careful boy, you're impulsiveness will be the death of you." He warned sternly.

He allowed his son to sit on his lap for another five minutes before lifting him down with ease.

"Time for bed." He informed his son, laying a hand on his shoulder and pushing him forwards lightly.

On another night, Klaus would have argued, but as his behind hurt enough as it was, he decided his well thought out arguments could wait until tomorrow night.

Esther was waiting in the children's room as her husband and son entered, she smiled at both. This seemed to be one of those rare occasions when the two of them were getting along reasonably well.

Elijah and Rebekah were the only two left awake, they blinked tiredly at their brother as he crawled into the bed besides them and huddled close to them for warmth.

An hour later, all of the children were sleeping soundly, while Esther and Mikael were still awake.

They stood in back in the children's room, checking on them all, as Esther often felt a strong need to do. Th

First Esther, then Mikael kissed Elijah, Klaus, Rebekah and finally Henrich on the head, before slipping out as silently as possible.

They sat together by the fire, talking over the events of the day.

Esther was listening as Mikael told her about finding Niklaus, cowering before a wolf. Esther felt a stab of relief that her children were all safe and in bed. She was not really listening to Mikael until he commented,

"it was the strangest thing. It looked as though the wolf took a sniff at Niklaus and then backed away." He shook his head in bemusement. "I cannot say I'm surprised, that boy would do anything to avoid a bath." he muttered.

Esther felt like something had dropped into her stomach from a great height, she thought she might be sick.

The wolf had noted her son's scent and then backed away in fear.

Mikael smiled at her, the guilt this small action caused nearly took her breath away.

"Shall we go to bed?" He asked.

She smiled, reached out and took her husbands hand. Keeping the raging turmoil, locked firmly inside her, as they walked towards their small room.

**The end.**

**I tried to put everybody in character, but Mikael was only in three episodes so I don't really know what he was like as a parent, although it appears, not good. However I decided to write something where Mikael was a decent, if harsh, dad.**

**I don't know if this is a good or bad fic because I am not used to writing spanking stories.**

**Please review.**


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